A potluck is a gathering of people where each participant is expected to bring a dish of food to be shared among the group. Baptist Potluck is where we will be gathering for "food for thought" from Baptists and "food for the soul" from the Word of God.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

THE DEVIL'S BROTHER -Mitt and Mike

Was Mike Huckabee responding to wrong information to ask, "Don’t Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?" Was his question just too misleading or was Mormon Mitt simply tooembarrassed to respond? The national security for presidents relies upon responding to accuracy, so the question really matters. While Bible Christianity invites research into the history, prophecy, archeology and scientific facts to reveal credibility, why is Mormonism easily offended about investigation? Mitt Romney as a Mormon claims the Christian faith but then is he comfortable with examination? Every American president faces continual public scrutiny, so these LDS excuses are bound to fall upon hard times.

According to a Mormon prophet

we discover "the Savior's example . . . when he was on the mountain with his fallen brother, Lucifer . . ." (The Miracle of Forgiveness, Spencer W. Kimball, p. 216).

According to a LDS church publication,

Jesus is the spirit brother of Lucifer ("Ensign", June 1986, p. 25).

According to Marion G. Romney,

cousin of Mitt’s father and former councilor in the First Presidency of the LDS Church, "Lucifer, who kept not his first estate, was angry when God chose Christ to go to earth" (Church News, 11 February 1978, p. 3).

According to a member of the LDS First Council of the Seventy,

"Lucifer . . . this spirit-brother of Jesus desperately tried to become the Savior of mankind" (The Gospel Through the Ages, Milton R. Hunter, 1945 ed., p. 15). This book is official doctrine since the title page reads, "Written and published under the direction of the General Priesthood Committee of the Council of the Twelve of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." Projecting the same scenario, if Lucifer only had the better plan of salvation, we would find Luciferians and no Christians. If anyone was willing to celebrate in that state, it would be Lucifermas instead of Christmas.

According to a prominent Mormon apostle,

"Lucifer, the son of the morning, is our elder brother and the brother of Jesus Christ" (Mormon Doctrine, Bruce McConkie, p. 163-164). The LDS often speak of our older brother, Jesus, yet little is said about an older brother, the devil.

The alleged account according to Mormonism

is how Jesus, billions of people, the angels and devils all became spirit-children through sex from an exalted man named "heavenly father" with one of his goddess wives in a place called pre-existence. Considering this theory of a man-god having sexual relations, he could not ever keep up with our rate of birth on earth.

What are the biblical distinctions?

The devils are fallen angels by nature, different from God and differing from humans. People are human by nature and never to be gods in embryo. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are by nature the eternal God so the Godhead role is already taken. Idolatry’s confusion is to worship idols, people, or the devil to be true gods. Satan is the god of this world but these are merely "called gods" (1 Cor. 8:5) and never to be the Almighty and eternal God by nature.

Does the Alpha and Omega have a brother?

To say that Jesus is Lucifer’s brother is like insisting that Henry W. Ford is the brother of a car. Or its like saying Thomas Edison is the brother of a light bulb. How could the First and the Last ever create an equal? The Son made the worlds (Heb. 1:2). The Lord made the heavens and its hosts (Psalm 33:6). God the Son made "all things" (John 1:3). How much is all things? Jesus creating "all things" made the dominions of angels which includes the devils (Colossians 1:16-17) and Lucifer (Ezekiel 28:13-15).

What is the conclusion then?

Either Mormonism or Christianity has to have the wrong Jesus. The LDS prophet stated in Paris, many "have said we are not Christians. ‘Mormons are not Christians,’ they say; they do not believe in the traditional Christ. No, I don’t. The traditional Christ of whom they speak is not the Christ of whom I speak" (LDS Church News, Gordon B. Hinckley, January, 1999; June 20, 1998, p.7). Thank you for the honesty as you are exactly who the Scriptures have warned about, "For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached" (2 Corinthians 11:4). "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect" (Matthew 24:24).

Is Jesus the devil’s brother or the eternal God?

The answer is clear on the preface page of the Book of Mormon, "JESUS is the CHRIST, the ETERNAL GOD" (the BM capitals were included for emphasis). So at the inception of the Mormon faith in 1830, the LDS were exactly right while identifying Jesus Christ. And still the proof remains for Mormons to see in every Book of Mormon. The LDS continual drift of faith was closer to Christianity at that point of time than at any time since its inception.

How could Jesus be the brother of the devil and not the brother of the devil?

If so, Jesus was created and uncreated. Jesus did not create all things, yet He created all things. Jesus was born as a spirit-child, yet He is eternally God. Jesus earned his salvation, yet is the Savior from sin.

Mormons are eager to offer you the Book of Mormon but not their other scriptures, the Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price. Why? I think the reason is very clear as we will see.

THE BOOK OF MORMON TEACHES:

- The truth

that there is an eternal God (Ether 8:23).

- The truth

that there is only one God (Alma 11:27-29).

- The truth

that Jesus is God (Ether 3:17-18).

- The truth

that Christ is the Lord God Omnipotent, creator of all things and above all (Mosiah 5:15).

- The truth

of the trinity, "Christ the Son, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, which is one Eternal God" (Alma 11:44; Testimony of Three Witnesses).

-The truth

that God is Spirit (Alma 18:26-29; 22:8-11; 31:15). These speaking in Alma are not being corrected for error. No LDS teaching from 1830 to 1842 would contradict this. Yet Joseph Smith refuted it all to claim that God does have a body of flesh and bones (Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith - History 1:17; Doctrine and Covenants 130:22; Mormon Doctrine pp. 321, 567-577).

- The heresy

of Modalism that Jesus is the same person as the Father (Ether 3:14; 4:7-12; Mosiah 15:1-5).

- The heresy

(1830 ed.) that Jesus is "the Son of the only begotton of the Father." An "of" makes Jesus the grandson of the heavenly Father, or that He is His own Son (Alma 5:48, p. 236, line 29).

THE DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS says:

- The truth

in 1830 that God is everlasting and unchangeable, the only true God, and the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are one God (D&C 20:17, 19, 28).

- The truth

in 1831 that Jesus Christ "is from all eternity to all eternity, the Great I AM" (D&C 39:1).

- The heresy

in 1839 when Joseph Smith was not sure "whether there be one God or many gods . . ."

- The heresy

in 1843 that men can become gods (D&C 132:20). Mormonism is cut-and-paste with a long history of man changing god. The Bible writers and the Jews were monotheists who believed in one true God.

THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE claims:

The creation account of the Bible was rewritten to be the product from a council of Gods (Pearl of Great Price, Abraham 4 & 5).

MORMON DOCTRINE reads:

The heresy

of Jesus being one god of three: "There are three Gods--the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost--who, though separate in personality, are united as one in purpose, in plan, and in all the attributes of perfection" (p. 317). Three Gods can never be one God if language means anything at all. Scriptures of the one godhead being three Persons can never be rightly interpreted as three gods.

The heresy

that Jesus was a sinner who progressed to become worthy, "Christ attained Godhood while yet in pre-existence" (p. 323). An earmark of heresy is a distorted view of God to diminish Jesus or to deify man into becoming a god.

The heresy

that Jesus is the spirit child of a Heavenly Mother and Heavenly Father. Since there is nothing in scripture about a Mother God, McConkie cites a popular Mormon hymn for evidence (Mormon Doctrine, pp. 516-517). It’s too obvious! Wouldn’t God surely know His own wife if He had one? (Isaiah 44:8).

JOSEPH SMITH LATER TAUGHT:

The heresy

shortly before his death in 1844, that "We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea . . . he was once a man like us . . . you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all Gods have done before you" (Mormon Doctrine p. 321; Journal of Discourses, vol. 6, pp.3-4).

It makes you wonder then why the LDS angel, Moroni, never became a god. Joseph Smith went from one God to preach an unrefined paganism about a myriad of Gods and to say that men can be Gods. Isn’t this exactly what Satan wants us to think? (Genesis 3:5). God forewarned us about these false gods to protect His people, to keep truth pure and to censure false prophets (Deuteronomy 13:1-5). How could the LDS consider him to be a credible prophet after he refuted the Bible, the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants? Joseph Smith effectively swept the whole foundation of his LDS church right into the theological ashcan.

BRIGHAM YOUNG TAUGHT FOR ABOUT 25 YEARS IN THE LDS GENERAL CONFERENCE:

The heresy

that Adam is God (JD, 1:50-51, 1854; see Doctrine and Covenants 27:11). This Adam-God of Brigham’s theology was Heavenly Father who went to have physical sex with Mary. That destroys the Virgin Birth and led in his theology to God having incest with His daughter (Mormon Doctrine, pp. 546-547). What happens to people when spiritual leaders do not know God? It seems ironic to have a university named after him.

ARE MORMONS CHRISTIANS?

The LDS church spends millions on a vast PR campaign to redefine Mormonism into Christianity. The LDS people believe this to be true as they sincerely claim that they are Christians. Yet, how can a religion keep redefining God and ever be regarded as Christians? The LDS have the same problem as Mitt in that they cannot be clear about what they believe and yet sound orthodox enough to convince others.

Joseph Smith

fired the first shot as he had no tolerance for Christians. The bashing began from the inception to say, "they were all wrong . . . their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt" (Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith - History 1:18-20).

Brigham Young

preached with contempt, "The Christian world, so called, are heathens as to their knowledge of salvation of God." And "With regard to true theology, a more ignorant people never lived than the present so-called Christian world" (Journal of Discourses 8:171, 199).

The Book of Mormon

charges Christianity as "the church of the devil . . . the mother of abominations; and she is the whore of all the earth" (1 Nephi 14:10) and all who trust in the Bible alone are "fools" (2 Nephi 29:3-6).

The Doctrine and Covenants

claim the LDS church is "the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth, with which I, the Lord, am well pleased" (1:30) and Christians "build up the kingdom of the devil" (10:56).

CAN MORMONISM BE EXCLUDED FROM CHISTIANITY?

A Mormon writer claims there is no way to exclude them but Jesus corrected him in Matthew 7:21-23. Why are our Mormon friends so insulted if you ask, "When did you become Christians?" Were there any apologies over its history? Have the LDS embraced the truth? Has the church recanted? The Christian world naturally looks on with dismay! All of the LDS "scriptures" have drastically changed in their brief history. The present prophet never prophesies or writes what they call scripture. Those who have prophesied rarely were ever close to getting anything right. Therefore, Mormonism can never be considered another Christian denomination until it honestly denounces all of their doctrinal heresies.

The LDS seem shocked that we cannot consider Mormonism to be Christian.

But what they do not understand is that no true Christian assigns the title of "Christian" to anyone simply upon the basis of belonging to a certain church. In comparison, Christians do not claim to be Mormons since we do not believe the LDS teachings. The LDS cannot claim to be Christians when they do not believe the clear Bible doctrines. So if the Jesus of Mormonism is false, the LDS faith is false; meaning worthless, useless or "vain" (1 Corinthians 15:2, 14, 17). The value of our faith is not from its great size but is due to the object in which it is placed. The greatest faith in someone who is false is as no faith at all. A person's sincerity or their false messiahs can never bridge the gap from sin to God.

Mitt Romney: Can he stand scrutiny?

Mormonism has many defenders but no defense. For anyone to sensibly examine the depths of Mormonism is to reject it, but to simply be charmed by the veneer is often to embrace it. Consequently, if Mitt wants Christian votes more than Mormon dollars, he must renounce the long hostility against biblical Christianity. If not, it’s obvious that he agrees with the past and present positions of the LDS church.

Who is the Mormon Jesus? Is he the devil’s brother?

If you have the wrong Jesus, you are wrong for all of eternity. But if you have the same Jesus as the disciples, you are right for all eternity. The disciple's Jesus is "My Lord and my God" (John 20:28). Jesus, as the good Rabbi, would have corrected Thomas if what he said was wrong. Rather He affirms the truth in the next verse to say in effect, exactly right! Jesus is God, the second Person of the Trinity. As the Father said to the Son, "Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever"(Heb. 1:8).

- Charlie Carle

A SITE WITH ANSWERS:For good up-to-date answers on these things, add this to your favorites:

Why can we have Mormon governors, senators, cabinet members, mayors, etc. but not president? Hasn't the LDS church provided enough track record to show its members serve responsibly and honorably in public office?

Bro. Cardot, thanks for dropping by, and I have added http://www.baptistmuse.com/blog/blog.html to my google reader. I will be keeping up with Baptist Muse. Also will be praying for you as you serve both our Lord Jesus Christ and in Uncle Sam's Army. God Bless, Bro. Jeff Hallmark

I appreciate the question and it is fair enough to inquire. We don't see the contention of whether a Mormon might be a good president.

Any honorable man to receive that office would not accept it knowing that he planned to let the LDS church guide his decisions or he would not be an honorable man. Mitt claims the LDS leaders have their work to do and he would have his.

He served in Massachusetts and apparently was able to separate church and state. However, an LDS talk show host in Salt Lake City said, wait a minute!

Mitt claimed nothing higher than when he puts his hand upon the Bible? What about his vows in the temple?

So to the LDS people this certainly leads to an integrity problem for a Mormon about where a man's allegiance is. That leads to Mitt either being an honest and faithful Mormon or else definitely a Mormon hypocrite. The pretenders, fakes and half-hearted are not great leaders under any situation.

Secondly, and probably the greater concern is how the LDS church would use such a prominent leader as a catalyst to promote its false religion across the face of the earth.

It's no better for Mormon converts than for the life of a Muslim who lives a nice life and minds his own business, but in the end their false prophets will guide them to hell.

I just want to know why so many good "Christians" are so threatened by the Latter-Day Saints. Why are you so afraid of us that you (and so many others) feel the need to point out all of our faults? I don't see LDS members going through the history of the Catholic Popes to find errors in their doctrinal teachings.